A Change Is Gonna Come Rhythm Guitar Lesson

Learn how to strum in 6/8 time!

The rhythm guitar in Spytunes arrangement of 'A Change Is Gonna Come' is aiming to be as big as possible.

To achieve this we strum with as much space as possible and focus on the placement on the beat.

Similarly to 'Robin Hood', 'One More Cup Of Coffee' and 'Wish You Were Here', strumming in this style might at first seem easy.

However, as you know by now, easy or hard is just a matter of how much attention you are paying to details.

Focusing in on a simple strumming part like the one in 'A Change Is Gonna Come' reveals that there are many different ways to strum.

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

Strumming Techniques

Consider the following points when attempting a good quality strum:

• How many strings from the chord to strum
• How hard or soft to strum
• Pluck a bass note, then strum
• Building sections by gradually playing louder
• Never put any unnecessary strums in 
• Focus on placement of strum in relation to the beat

At first, all these details should be looked at, in time they will then become natural to you and can be achieved by simply "follow the singer".

Your main goal as a guitarist should be to vary your part, keep it interesting by constantly adapting to whatever else is going on.

A higher state of musicality can only be achieved through playing with other people, adapting to them, not by "playing your part perfectly".

As soon as there's a drummer involved his placement of a snare will have to dictate your strumming, it can never be the other way around.

Rhythm Guitar e Book